While looking at this page, in tribute to the highest ranking film on the list, I recommend playing Rivers of Babylon by Boney M in the background. This was the year I really got into cinema as a medium. Ironically, none of the films that got the most critical praise, or most of the ones I liked back then, are on the list below. 2008 is an incredibly strong year, but to have such a list I had to watch a lot of bad and average films to find the gems. It was worth it, but looking at the ten selections (and honorable mentions) below, something like The Dark Knight is so far from my tastes now, regardless of my actually opinion of it, that it feels like an alien language if I was to rewatch it again. Not out of a hipster, elitist attitude, but literally in a completely different mindset at points in what I admire in film making from current critical views of the medium, even in my vacuous entertainment. Genre blurring or taking dramatic stories and depicting them in unconventional ways dominate the list, and if anything, the noughties (sic) was a decade where these two traits were pushed further even compared to the nineties. Sometimes too much but with these ten examples it was done perfectly.
Ranking 2008
(In Order as of 15th May 2014)
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| Tulpan (Dir. Sergei Dvortsevoy, 2008) |
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| Waltz With Bashir (Dir. Ari Folman, 2008) |
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| The Headless Woman (Dir. Lucrecia Martel, 2008) |
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| Historias extraordinarias (Dir. Mariano Llinás, 2008) |
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| Love Exposure (Dir. Sion Sono, 2008) |
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| Pontypool (Dir. Bruce McDonald, 2008) |
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| The Sky Crawlers (Dir. Mamoru Oshii, 2008) |
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| 35 Shots of Rum (Dir. Claire Denis, 2008) |
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| Kaiba (Dir. Masaaki Yuasa, 2008/Anime Series) |
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| Goodbye Solo (Dir. Ramin Bahrani, 2008) |
Honorable Mentions (Also in Order of Preference):
Redbelt (Dir. David Mamet, 2008); Rembrandt's J'Accuse (Dir. Peter Greenaway, 2008); JCVD (Dir. Mabrouk El Mechri, 2008); Not Quite Hollywood (Dir. Mark Hatley, 2008); Vinyan (Dir. Fabrice Du Welz, 2008); Synecdoche, New York (Dir. Charlie Kaufman, 2008); Of Time and the City (Dir. Terence Davies, 2008); Il Divo (Dir. Paolo Sorrentino, 2008)
Full List of Films Watched from the Year - http://letterboxd.com/coheed/list/my-personal-2008-in-film-ranked-best-to-worst/
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Screenshots, in Order, from the Following Sources:
http://www.coffeecoffeeandmorecoffee.com/archives/tulpan%202.jpg
http://mmimageslarge.moviemail-online.co.uk/Waltz-with-Bashir-25763_5.jpg
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjL9y7xWW6m8X8NaZG0DMMQgaF1H7mjmBztcHXfY40lWaT_8HhpfFO42MobLVINGuO2OSOlzDvYpCV2bHRUAhi0D1AveVrWW4zlUtnb-SoTWiry4vYHUXq5p_eFt_HVt7Au_FEbQW51UAVu/s1600/vlcsnap-2014-01-09-21h16m41s42.png
https://wondersinthedark.files.wordpress.com/2010/08/historias_extraordinarias_1-avi_snapshot_00-04-04_2010-08-09_16-25-08.jpg
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdk2x4G2mHPfiD7Tq6xlObgYdhvPQWpZvb07Va0nSFIHCEKQpe3t73BOXunftYUSjA05scxEbWeemcEkWBgt2lfl4cQvAxP7yjSt1g6-GTrURfmJKl9kaJ2Q_blOJR6LpTXiVrO7DWQWk/s1600/loveexposure6.jpg
https://academicalism.files.wordpress.com/2010/10/pontypool_1djbloodbooth1.jpg
http://www.japanator.com/elephant/ul/9020-skycrawlers-550.jpg
http://kistenet.com/brandon/images/Blog/2009/December/35%20Rhums%201.jpg
http://jessi.gonein60fps.net/S1E1/Kaiba/Episode%207%2001.jpg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1a/Blowing_Rock-27527-2.jpg/512px-Blowing_Rock-27527-2.jpg
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